30 February 2013 FCW.COM
plain, but there was little opportunity
to air grievances to anyone who could
take action.
Since the 1940s, administrative pro-
cedures have been implemented that
grant employees the right to a hearing.
Feds who feel their termination was
unfair can also seek the aid of the Merit
Systems Protection Board. Strong sup-
port from unions also helps employees
ght arbitrary terminations.
Those protections are good for
employees, but they create hassles
for managers when legitimate perfor-
mance issues surface.
"A federal manager who simply
wants a poorly performing or non-
performing employee to go away, to
re them may take more work than
they want, so the notion is, I ll just put
them in a corner somewhere and give
them make-work, and in the worst-case
scenario, they can just sit there and
gure out how to spend their time, "
Palguta said. And although that might
be an easy out for the manager, it "is
very irritating to the taxpayer."
How prevalent are turkey farms?
Although turkey farms can be incon-
spicuous to outsiders, those in the
know say certain titles can be a tip-
off. Positions such as "special proj-
ects," "special assistant" and "out-
reach" often indicate turkey-farmed
individuals, said one former federal
manager who spoke on background.
Getting an actual estimate of how
many turkey farms or low perform-
ers exist is not easy. "There s no data
gathered because there s not an of -
cial category with personnel records
of someone being assigned to a turkey
farm " Palguta said
The most recent numbers are from
1999, when the Of ce of Personnel
Management s study "Poor Performers
in Government: A Quest for the True
Story" found that 3.7 percent of the
federal workforce were poor perform-
ers and 1.5 percent were rehabilitated
poor performers.
An OPM spokesperson told FCW the
agency no longer produces that report.
One insider said the of ce might have
discontinued it due to the lack of a
common de nition of a low performer.
"Also, keep in mind that if such a
number was published, the political
fallout would probably be enormous
--- from both sides of the aisle," the
source said.
Experts have different opinions on
whether turkey farms are as common
today as they were decades ago. "I
don t think we have any evidence that
we have less of it today " Lewis said
farm, Palguta said.
we have less of it today, Lewis said.
BY MARK MILLER
Leaders are called on to do many things
for their organizations: articulate a vision
for a better tomorrow, mobilize people,
constantly drive improved outcomes,
and so on. However, there's one thing
the best leaders do that is never written
about. They are masterful at simplifying
things.
Here are some examples of how this
happens in real life.
• Leaders simplify the mission.
Exactly what are we trying to accom-
plish? If your answer takes more than
a sentence or two, you might not have
simpli ed the mission enough. Peter
Drucker said a mission statement should
t on a T-shirt. If it doesn't, you don't have
it yet.
• Leaders simplify the values. What
are the beliefs that you want to drive the
behavior in your organization? The longer
the list of values, the less impact they'll
have on your organization. So how many
should you have? I don't believe there's
one right answer, but I do think it's closer
to ve than 10.
• Leaders simplify the score card.
What are the key metrics you use to
drive your team and organization? Again,
the watchword is "simplify.
" I've seen
organizations with 20-plus key metrics.
You guessed it --- it didn't work. Every-
one picked the three to four they wanted
to pursue. The result: no organizational
focus, no traction, no improvement.
• Leaders simplify problems. Admit-
tedly, many of the problems we face as
leaders are very complex. Don't let that
stop you from breaking the problem
down into smaller, more manageable
chunks.
• Leaders simplify processes. The
best leaders I know don't like bureau-
cracy. Those men and women are
always interested in streamlining the
process. The questions they ask include:
How can we make it easier, make it
faster, or reduce the number of steps?
• Leaders simplify the strategy.
Can you write your core business strat-
egy or strategies on the back of a nap-
kin? Better yet, can you do it in a picture
a 10-year-old could draw? If you want
everyone implementing the strategy,
they need to get it.
• Leaders simplify communica-
tions. The next time you're tempted to
present a 40-slide PowerPoint deck, try to
reduce it to four slides. Here's a sobering
test: After you speak to a group, would
the audience members agree on your
core message? They should.
STAY OUT OF THE WEEDS
HOW TO
Executive Handbook